Sleeping Angels
by Lucrecia Valentine
Summary: Sephiroth's mother tries to set it right. Not just for herself but for the son and lover she left behind.
1. The Light Awakens

Sleeping Angels

Sleeping Angels

Chapter I – The Light Awakens

"Lucrecia!"

"Vincent! Where are you?"

"Don't worry, they are coming for you."

"Vincent don't go. Stay here in my dreams. I need you…"

"I will see you again"

"…To wake me from the nightmare"

She awoke to see three faces baring down upon her. One belonged to a woman with long dark hair and brown eyes, another was a strange animal like creature with bright red fur and the last was a young man with spiky blond hair and deep blue Mako eyes. 

"Who is it?" She sat up in the coffin. She was dressed all in white. Her long autumn-brown hair flowed like a waterfall over her shoulders. The paleness of her skin heavily contrasted the darkness of her deep green eyes. She surveyed her visitors.

"…Never seen you before. You must leave."

The blond man stood before her.

"You were having a nightmare. We found the note upstairs."

"A nightmare? This mansion, this is the nightmare."

He turned his head to the side, the shining blue eyes darkening with sadness and regret.

"You can say that again."

"What do you know about this place?"

"This is where my nightmare began. Sephiroth has lost his mind. He found the secrets hidden here."

She stood in her coffin and did a slow backflip high into the air. She landed perfectly on the edge of the coffin. Her green eyes filled with alarm.

"Sephiroth!?!"

Now the blond man lifted his head to look at her. They spoke in unison.

"You know Sephiroth?"

He was taken slightly aback by her reaction. 

"Yeah, I know Sephiroth. Five years ago he came here to Nibelheim to inspect the reactor in the mountains. There we found Jenova. And all the monsters. All of a sudden he flipped saying he was created that way too. When we got back he disappeared into the library here. He read all night. I went to find him but he wasn't the sane Sephiroth I knew. He called me a traitor to the Cetra and told me he was the son of Jenova."

He paused for a second. The young woman put an arm around him. She continued the story.

"After this he…he burnt down the village killing so many people. I went after him back to the reactor. My father was there, he had followed Sephiroth too but when I got there my father was dead."

"I arrived to see Tifa crying over him and she ran after Sephiroth. He cut her really bad. I went up to challenge him but all he did was stare at Jenova. He said something about taking Jenova, his mother, to claim back the Planet. The rest is blank."

"Everyone thought Sephiroth was dead but recently he came back and is searching for the Promised Land with his mother."

The woman in white lay back in her coffin. Crystal tears rolled down her face. 

"Sephiroth…"

She pulled the lid of the coffin back over herself. 

"Sephiroth…I'm sorry"

The lid of the coffin opened again.

"Hearing your story has added upon me yet another sin. Let me sleep"

The blond man leant over her. 

"At least tell me your name."

She stood again. She had no reason not to tell him. Maybe he would meet Sephiroth and tell him she was here. Dear Sephiroth.

"Very well. I was Hojo of the Shinra's assistant here in Nibelheim. My name is Lucrecia and I…I am Sephiroth's mother."

The eyes of the three visitors widened. The red beast spoke first.

"Isn't Jenova Sephiroth's mother?"

She bowed her head. 

"I gave birth to him. He is my child." She looked up at the blond man.

"Who are you? You never told me."

"I am Nanaki of Cosmo Canyon." Said the red creature.

"I'm Tifa, proud member of AVALANCHE" said the woman.

"My name is Cloud Strife, ex-SOLIDER"

Lucrecia stood. She stepped out of the coffin. Tifa ran to her side to help her walk. Lucrecia gently brushed her away.

"You were with the Shinra too? Do you know the Turks?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah"

"Do you know a Turk called Vincent?"

"Who?"

"Vincent…Vincent Valentine."

Cloud shook his head sadly. "Sorry miss Lucrecia"

She smiled in spite of herself.

"Never mind. If I go with you, will I meet Hojo and the Turks?"

"We're going after them and Sephiroth. So I guess sooner or later." 

She lowered her head again. "Sephiroth, Vincent…wait for me." She walked up to Cloud.

"Very well, I will go with you. And Cloud, just call me Lucrecia"

Please review!! All characters belong to Square as usual


	2. Introductions

Chapter II – Introductions 

Lucrecia squinted in the midday sun. It was the first time she had been outside in a long time. Her muscles were coming alive again and walking was much easier. She followed Cloud, Tifa and Nanaki through the town. Her town. Nothing about it had changed. She stopped for a second to look around. Cloud stopped and turned. 

"I thought you said Sephiroth destroyed this place."

Cloud and Tifa glanced at each other. Tifa nodded.

"He did. We both saw it. I don't know what's going on anymore."

"Maybe this people have something to do with it." Lucrecia gestured at a group of men dressed in black capes. They were all huddled together and whispering. She stepped closer to hear what they were saying.

"Re-uni-on. Must foll-ow Seph-ir-oth."

"Reunion?" As she said it a strange feeling passed over her body. She felt something calling to her, something dark and evil.

"No!" she cried, "I won't go. Nooo!"

Lucrecia crumpled to the floor.

"Sephiroth!" She ran after the man in black faster and faster but she could never catch up. She kept calling to him.

"Wait, Sephiroth!"

He turned about to speak when she saw him carrying a woman's head in his hand.

"Mother?"

The head came alive.

"I am your mother Sephiroth. I am Jenova."

"No!" Lucrecia called out to the darkness. Sephiroth was gone.

"Lucrecia! Wake up."

She opened her dark green eyes to see Cloud leaning over her. 

"You were dreaming again."

"Where am I?"

"This is the Highwind, a giant airship. You fainted in Nibelheim, do you remember?" 

Lucrecia sat up. Her eyes were full of pain and worry. She tried to get out of bed but Cloud held her shoulders down.

"Sephiroth…I must go to him. He needs me!" She tried to fight Cloud but she had no energy. Whatever happened in Nibelheim had sapped a great deal of her strength. She stopped resisting. She lay back down. 

"Let me sleep."

Cloud walked up onto the deck of the Highwind. Tifa stepped up to him. 

"Is she alright?"

Cloud shrugged and rubbed his hand on the back of his head.

"I think so. She was dreaming again."

Cid looked up from where he was tinkering with the control panel.

"You talking about our new visitor?"

"Yeah man what's up with her?" Barret stepped forward. Everyone began to crowd around Cloud and Tifa. 

"All I know is that she used to be with the Shinra."

Cait Sith nodded his head.

"Yeah, she's on our record. She was a member of the Science Dept when they were workin' on the Jenova Project."

Nanaki spoke next.

"She said she was working with Hojo."

"Yeah that's what the records show. But…"

Cloud sighed. This entire journey was made up of buts and as wells. He was losing track of it all. He still didn't understand himself. He had decided not to tell the others about Lucrecia's connection with Sephiroth. There was something about her. He felt a connection with her. He didn't want to tell anyone that either.

"Cloud? Cloud, are you listening? Look here she comes now."

Lucrecia walked up to the small group of people. She was afraid of them. They were after her child. She wasn't going to tell them she was Sephiroth's mother, not yet.

"Hello. I'm Lucrecia. It's nice to meet you all."

They all stared at her. She flinched under their gaze. Tifa broke the silence.

"Hi! Did you sleep OK?"

Lucrecia nodded. She had showered and her hair was thicker and lighter. Colour was beginning to return to her pale face. Even so, she looked very frail. Everyone saw this and they softened a little.

"Let me introduce you to everybody." Tifa pointed to a tall, muscular man with a gun where his right hand should have been.

"This is Barret of AVALANCHE. He may look scary but he's really a big softie." Tifa leant closer to Lucrecia and whispered in her ear. 

"Especially in his sailor outfit." Lucrecia and Tifa looked at each other and laughed.

"I'm Cid. And this here is my airship. Beautiful, ain't she?" A man held out his hand to her. He was puffing on a cigarette. 

"I remember when they were first talking about this. It's a lovely piece of machinery."

"Cait Sith." A little cat sat on a huge mog stood before her. "Otherwise known as Reeve, head of Urban Development at Shinra" Lucrecia held her breath for a second. If this man had access to her files all would be lost. Looking at the way everyone reacted to her, they didn't know. She relaxed.

"Last but not least we have…" Tifa looked around "Where'd she go?"

"I'm here." A young girl came up the steps to the deck. "I looked in her room but I couldn't find any materia at all." She pouted. Lucrecia turned to face her.

"And you are…"

The girl looked up open-mouthed.

"So you're our new friend. I was just…ummm…Hi I'm Yuffie. I would stay and chat but…Bye!"

Yuffie ran fast as she could back below deck.

"So Lucrecia, do you have any weapons, materia, stuff like that?" Cloud's intense Mako eyes were bearing down upon her. She returned his gaze, falling into the pit of blue. Her dark eyes were pulling him in and he could not pull away. Tifa frowned slightly and waved a hand in front of Cloud's face.

"Jenova." His voice seemed far away as if it was an inner part of him that called to her.

"Reunion." Her voice sounded the same. They kept on staring at each other muttering Jenova's name.

"He's off again. Goddammit Cloud, snap out of it." Barret clunked Cloud round the head with his gun-arm. Cloud blinked in surprise, breaking the spell.

"What happened? Where am I? Lucrecia!" Cloud screamed to her as she fell to the floor again. 


	3. Angels In The Waterfall

Sleeping Angels

Chapter III – Angels in the Waterfall

"Come on guys. Let's go!" Cloud drew his sword and crept behind the sheet of water. Tifa and Nanaki followed ready to fight if necessary. They stood in a large circular room. The floor was a smooth solid sheet of blue marble. At the back of the room was a large white structure. Before it sat the form of a man. Cloud began to step forward. He was glad of the distraction. He couldn't stop thinking about what happened earlier with Lucrecia. So she contained Jenova cells too. He wondered what had happened to her and Sephiroth all those years ago. Sephiroth. He kept walking only to find he wasn't moving anywhere. 

"What the…?" Cloud looked to his teammates only to see they weren't moving either. The man at the other side of the room stood and walked towards them. He was dressed all in black except a red cape that flew out behind him like a pair of bloodstained wings. A wave of black hair hung down his back. It was wrapped up in a red headscarf. Most of his face was covered except for his eyes. He stopped just short of Cloud. He was a good few inches taller than Cloud, almost as tall as Barret. Now Cloud could see his eyes. They were red, blood red. A small black pupil at the center of each eye seemed to be pulling the red irises toward them. Cloud couldn't turn away from his gaze. He spoke.

"Leave this place." His voice was deep and deadly. It rang in Cloud's ears. It reminded him faintly of Sephiroth's booming voice only this one was somewhat more delicate.

"We only wanted to see what was here. Who are you?"

"Leave. I speak to no-one but her."

"Who?"

"Me"

Lucrecia stepped forward. Cloud had left her aboard the Highwind to sleep. He thought it best not to let her come with him until he could figure out what dangers were in this strange place. Cloud tried to turn at the sound of her voice but some kind of force field was keeping him in place.

"Lucrecia! You need rest. Go back to the ship. We'll sort this out."

She ignored him and walked closer to the red-caped man. She held out her arms to him.

"Vincent."

Vincent stood still for a second before falling into her arms. She held him tightly to himself. He buried his face in her shoulder. She stroked the river of black hair and murmured his name softly. Cloud felt the force fields around him give way and he was able to move again. He started toward Lucrecia but Tifa held him back. 

"Let them be, Cloud. She loves him."

She loves him. Cloud felt a tight knot in the centre of his stomach. He turned to Tifa. She felt his pain and felt her own.

"Come on. We'd better leave them to it."

She nodded in approval and was about to leave when Lucrecia let go of Vincent and turned to them.

"Please don't go. I have to introduce you."

Vincent spoke.

"My name is Vincent Valentine. I am Sephiroth's father."

Cloud couldn't believe his ears. It couldn't be. These were Sephiroth's parents? Then why did Sephiroth say Jenova was his mother?

"But I thought…"

*****************************************************************************************************

A flash of white light filled the cave. Next thing he knew, he was standing in the centre of a small town.

__

"Nibelheim. Why am I here?"

Lucrecia was standing right behind him.

__

"This is my past. This is how my darling child was born to the world. And this is why you should have left me in my coffin."

"Your past?"

"These events happened twenty years ago. We are mere visitors. They can neither see nor hear us."

"But…"

"Look"

Lucrecia pointed to the front gate. A truck drove into the town and parked in front of the Shinra mansion. Four people got out. Two men dressed in white coats one with brown hair, the other with black walked through the gate into the mansion. Next followed a man dressed in a harsh blue suit, the uniform of a Turk. He paused turned and reached out his hand to the last person. She took it and got out.

"Thank you."

The man smiled, unusual for someone of his position.

"You're welcome miss."

The woman smiled back at him.

"Just call me Lucrecia."

Cloud gasped. The woman was Lucrecia. Even though this woman looked a lot healthier, they were one and the same. She hadn't aged at all. He turned to her.

__

"That's you."

"Uh-huh. The man who helped me was Vincent. The other two men are Hojo and Gast, both were brilliant scientists. We were here to work on the Jenova Project. The Shinra wanted us to do it away from Midgar so that if anything went wrong, they wouldn't be responsible for us." 

The scene changed again. This time it was Lucrecia and Vincent walking arm in arm through the town. They whispered to each other oblivious to the world.

__

"You were in love with him."

"It was an instant attraction. He was such a gentle and caring man but he had his dark side. After all he was a Turk. I never saw that side of him though until…"

Next they were in the basement of the Shinra mansion. Hojo was talking to Lucrecia.

"You know how much I love you Lucrecia."

"You don't love me! You just want to use me in your sick experiments. I won't do it!"

"You have no choice."

Hojo removed a syringe from his pocket and held it towards her. Lucrecia pushed at his arm screaming. 

"If you don't co-operate my dear, then you have to watch your boyfriend die"

__

"I'd rather have died a thousand times that to see Vincent suffer. Hojo managed to persuade me to leave Vincent and marry him. Vincent wasn't too pleased."

"Lucrecia! Can't you see that I love you? Please angel, you can't leave me like this!" Vincent and Lucrecia were now standing on the well in the centre of the town. It was late at night. Lucrecia faced away from Vincent, her face covered in glimmering tears.

"Vincent. Try to understand. We can't see each other anymore."

"Why?"

__

"I couldn't tell him why. I knew Hojo was watching us. If I gave anything away Vincent would be done for. I wished I didn't have to say this but I did."

"I don't love you anymore."

She ran fast as she could back to the mansion, hands covering her tear soaked face. Vincent stood alone in the moonlight. Very slowly, piece by piece, he tore up the wooden structure of the well. 

Cloud turned to Lucrecia. She was crying. He took her in his arms. 

__

"It's alright. I see why you did what you had to do."

"I betrayed him. It broke my heart to do it but I had no choice. The experiment was about to begin."

Another scene change. This time Lucrecia was lying on a bench in the middle of the lab. Her soft green eyes were closed. Hojo wore a surgeon's uniform.

__

"What's going on?"

"Hojo is implanting a fertilized egg inside me."

"Sephiroth."

The operation complete, Hojo began to inject a glowing yellow fluid into Lucrecia's stomach.

__

"What now?"

"Hojo was injecting me and my child with Jenova cells."

"I thought you said Vincent was Sephiroth's father. How did that happen if Sephiroth was conceived artificially?"

"I knew what Hojo was planning long before he made me finish with Vincent. One night I sneaked into the lab and switched the egg cells Hojo had prepared with one's of my own, one's I had artificially inseminated with Vincent."

"Does Hojo know?"

"No."

"So this is how Sephiroth was born."

(NB all word in italics are Cloud and Lucrecia watching not the Lucrecia in the flashback. Please review. Next chapter won't be far off.)


	4. 

Sleeping Angels

Chapter IV – Everlasting Sleep

"Why experiment on humans?"

"She and I are both scientists."

__

"I could have saved him but the Jenova was weakening me. All I could do was watch."

A shot rang out. Vincent didn't move. The bullet tore through his chest. Lucrecia screamed. She left Hojo's side and took Vincent's head in her hands. 

__

"He was dying in my arms. My angel, I killed him. I killed him with my weakness."

Vincent gazed up at his old lover. His crimson eyes were darkening as she watched. The black of his hair mingled with his dark red blood. His skin paled to an unnatural yet beautiful shade of white. Slowly his lips started to move. She bent her head down to listen.

"I still love you."

With that Vincent closed his eyes. His body became limp in her arms. Lucrecia kissed his cold lips. 

"I never stopped loving you. Be at peace my Vincent."

Hojo lifted Lucrecia roughly off Vincent and threw her to the floor. She hit her head on the cold concrete floor and fell unconscious. 

__

"That was the first of two deaths I had to deal with during that time in Nibelheim."

"Who else died?"

"Me."

Another scream. Now they were standing in the Nibelheim inn in one of the upstairs rooms. Lucrecia was lying on a bed holding her stomach and screaming. Men in white coats surrounded her. She was giving birth. One last ear-splitting scream and then silence. One man wrapped a small baby with a white blanket. Lucrecia, half-asleep with exhaustion, held out her arms to hold the child. 

"Sephiroth."

The man holding Sephiroth looked at her for a second then walked quietly away. She tried to sit up but couldn't make it.

"Sephiroth…"

__

"Ever since he was born I never got to hold him, even once... You can't call me his mother. That is my sin."

"Lucrecia…"

"I was allowed to name the child however. Sephiroth. It comes from the word seraphim meaning 'highest of the angels'. I got to see him once before I died. All I remember about him are his beautiful sea-green eyes. Had I not been so ill I would have taken him from them and raised him properly."

Cloud and Lucrecia were now back in the blue waterfall cave. Cloud looked at the others. They had seen it all. Tifa's face was damp with tears and Nanaki simply bowed his head. Lucrecia was clutching Vincent.

"You said you died…" Cloud spoke to Lucrecia who in reply nodded her fair head. 

"I died a week after Sephiroth was born. I never recovered from the birth. But the Jenova inside me wouldn't let me die completely. Everyone thought I was dead. When I awoke I was in that coffin in the Shinra mansion. I was so confused but all I could do was sleep. I don't age. I don't know if I'm ever going to die. But I have to keep going. I have to tell Sephiroth the truth."

"Lucrecia…"

She turned to Vincent. His form was fading.

"Vincent, what's happening?"

"I must return to the Lifestream. I promised to see you one last time and I have."

"Vincent, no!" Lucrecia tried to wrap her arms around him but they just went straight through. She could barely make him out. 

"Vincent, you can't leave me like this! Please!"

"You have Cloud to look after you now. I'll be waiting for you angel. To leave you like this, this is my sin."

With that, Vincent Valentine was no more.

"I still love you."

__

This time she was completely alone. The lid was been drawn down over her. She wanted to cry out, tell them she was still alive. Darkness. A voice inside her head.

"He is my child. He'd do anything for me. He doesn't even know you exist."

"You bitch! Give me back my baby."

"But Lucrecia…"

Now she was standing in the Shinra lab. A small child with silver hair was curled up in the corner.

"I want my mother!" He was crying.

"Sephiroth, your mother is dead. Jenova is dead."


	5. Gift From The Planet

Sleeping Angels

Chapter V – A Gift From the Planet

It was light outside when Lucrecia awoke. She needed to go to him. She could sense her son's pain and anguish. She knew he was sleeping deep within the Northern Cave and she knew that Jenova was there, waiting. Lucrecia got out of bed and walked up onto the deck of the Highwind. She needed to talk to someone. 

"Cloud…"

Silence. No one was around except for one man at the controls of the ship. It was eerily quiet. The man turned to face her.

"Ah you're awake at last miss."

She looked at him puzzled.

"At last? Who long have I slept? And where is everyone?"

"Let's see now, must've been about five days or so. Cloud has gone with the others to fight Weapon. We're flying right above them miss if you would care to look."

Lucrecia walked to the side of the airship and leant a little over it. They were flying over a huge expanse of green, the dark shape of a city nestled in the horizon. Then she saw it. Weapon. It was a huge monster, mechanical in nature and yet strangely alive. Created by the Planet as a protector from Jenova, this one was on its way to destroy Midgar before Cloud and the others. She could just make out Cloud's figure below her. He had his sword raised, waiting for that crucial moment when he could strike. Just as the moment came Weapon let out an ear-shattering roar and fired a beam of energy directly at him. It struck Cloud with full force and sent him sprawling across the landscape. Lucrecia screamed.

Weapon heard her scream and looked up at the airship flying above its head. It roared at her sensing the Jenova inside her body. It lifted a gigantic silver arm up towards her. 

"We have to move quickly miss."

"But what about Cloud?"

"I'll come back for them don't worry but I have to save this airship." 

The arm of the monster came closer until it was almost touching. She had to do something to save Cloud. No more would she be responsible for any death in this world least of all for the blue-eyed SOILDER. She stood back from the side of the ship, ran and leapt onto Weapon's hand.

"Miss Lucrecia!"

"Go save the ship. I have to rescue them. Please hurry!"

With that the pilot raised the airship high into the air out of harm's reach. Lucrecia turned to Weapon and stared at it straight in the eye. 

"Weapon! Cease this destruction. Let me heal my friend. Please."

Lucrecia's hands were shaking furiously with fear and she could feel her heart beating with astonishing rapidity inside her chest. She didn't know what to do. She tried speaking again.

"Weapon, please. We mean you no harm."

__

"You are a Child of Jenova yet you are a kind woman. What purpose do you have here?"

She gasped. The monster was speaking to her inside her head. She tried to reply in the same way.

__

"We have come to save the Planet."

It took all her concentration to send the message but Weapon seemed to receive it for it stood still a little as if in thought.

__

"Not an easy task for one such as yourself. Why are you doing this?"

"Sephiroth is my son. I have to help him discover his true self. And I have to help my friends. We only mean to do the best for you. Humanity is not to blame for this. I am."

"Very well child. I will let you and your friends live but I cannot save humanity. That is for the Planet to decide."

"Thank you Weapon. I owe you my life. I wish I could repay you for your kindness."

"Accept this gift from the Planet. It will help you heal the young one and bind you closer together until your task is complete. I sense murder from the city and I have my own task to perform. Farewell child."

Weapon lowered its arm and set Lucrecia down beside Cloud's body. From its other hand it dropped a small glowing orb by her feet. She picked it up and held it in her hands and Weapon turned and headed towards Midgar.

__

"Farewell my friend."

The pilot was as good as his word and came back just a few minutes later to pick up the group. Cid carried the unconscious Cloud aboard the ship and laid him down in his quarters. They all stood beside his bed weeping for him. Lucrecia held the orb tighter in her hands. It felt like a Restore materia but it was different somehow. She had to try.

"I think I can save him."

Tifa lifted her tearful eyes to meet Lucrecia's. Even through the mist of tears Lucrecia could see the younger woman's mistrust fighting with her love for a dying man. Lucrecia held out the orb to Tifa. She stared at it amazed.

"A materia? We already tried all the healing materia we could."

"Not this one, I think it might work."

Tifa did not question Lucrecia, she simply believed her. She would do anything to save him even accept someone else's love for him.

"Go ahead. Save him. Take him."

"Tifa, you don't understand. I'm not trying to be a hero. I don't love him, not the way you do. I care for him more than anyone but…"

Lucrecia let herself trail off. This was not the time to sort out her feelings. She sat on Cloud's bed and laid one hand across his forehead. With the other hand she held the materia and let her mind flow into it, absorbing its knowledge.

"Planet hear my cry. Heal him, let him live"

A red ray of light shone out from the orb and enclosed them. Lucrecia closed her eyes and allowed the materia to build a bridge between her and the blue-eyed man. She could sense his pain and his fear. He was dying and he knew it. She tried to talk to him but her lips could not move. She could feel the energy around them holding them both in place. Then a thought struck her. 

__

"Cloud, Cloud can you hear me?"

"Lucrecia?"

There it worked. She could communicate with him using the power of her mind. Without knowing it Lucrecia had created a bond with him so strong nothing could ever break it. 

__

"Cloud! I want to save you but I need your consent to do so. OK?"

"I want to live."

"I'm going to give you some of my Spirit Energy. That will replace some of the Life Force you have lost. However it means when I die, you die and vice versa. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

A green light shone from Lucrecia's body and flowed towards Cloud's body engulfing him. She concentrated as hard as she could, trying to call up Cloud's own energy to bond with hers in order to heal him. She could see him in her mind's eyes struggling.

__

"Get up Cloud!"

Cloud flung open his eyes and the red field vanished. He was alive again. Tifa looked up.

"Cloud, you're alive. You fool! We were so worried."

She wrapped her arms around him and caught him in a fierce hug. He hugged her back taking comfort from her warmth and the smell of her hair.

"I'm OK now Tifa really. Thanks to Lucrecia."

Tifa turned to talk to Lucrecia but she had already left. 


End file.
